Burden Sharing Under the Paris Climate Agreement

Two decades after creation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), parties have reached a general political consensus in support of reducing global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, but debate continues over how to share equitably the burden of mitigation across countries. As part of the December 2015 Paris Agreement, countries submitted Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for GHG mitigation. I analyze these mitigation targets to evaluate the degree to which they resemble any specific burden-sharing proposals. Results could have several applications as the UNFCCC process continues, including simulating how mitigation commitments may evolve as countries become wealthier and considering how increased ambition might be allocated while maintaining the current implicit burden-sharing allocation.